


Straight to the Moon

by soulofpetrichor



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Mission Fic, moon base
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 10:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17058458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofpetrichor/pseuds/soulofpetrichor
Summary: Steven and Peridot venture out on their first solo mission to repair the warp pad that services the moon base.





	Straight to the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Platon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Platon/gifts).



> Pledge 2018 gift for [Platon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Platon/) 💙

Steven grinned as he stepped out onto the front porch, taking in the sunny day and balmy breeze that wafted off the ocean. It had been an uncharacteristically cold winter in Beach City, and this was the first real day he'd been able to go outside without his jacket on. The warmth of the sun felt wonderful on his skin.

Today was a special day for another reason, too! It was his first "official" mission with Peridot. When Garnet had assigned it to them this morning, he'd thought he would burst from excitement. The pride he felt from being trusted to lead his own missions, from being considered a true Crystal Gem instead of just a trainee, was immense. He stood taller than usual when he walked, holding his head high as he made his way down the stairs to the beach.

It didn't take him long to find Peridot. The green Gem was crouched at the edge of the water, peering at something skeptically.

"Peridot!" Steven called as he ran across the sand, jumping into the air and gliding the last few feet toward Peridot. His landing was less than graceful; he overshot and splashed down in the shallows of the ocean, spraying both of them with salt water. "Whoops," he laughed.

"Steven!" Peridot gestured for him to join her. "I've discovered the most fascinating organism! Come look!"

Steven splashed out of the water and knelt down on the sand beside her. Peridot was fixated on a large hermit crab with a blue shell, her face inches from it. It peered back at her suspiciously.

"That's a hermit crab, Peridot," he said. "They're pretty common—they live all over the beach."

"Look at it!" She said insistently. "Look at its crimpers!"

"Crimpers?" Steven squinted at the crab. "Oh, its claws! It uses them to pick things up, and to fight off predators, I think."

"Claws," Peridot said, looking as if she were trying the word on for size. She shook her head. "I think I like crimpers better." 

She reached out a finger and prodded at one of them. The crab promptly retreated into its shell, glaring at her from its dark interior as if she had offended it greatly. Steven chuckled.

"Come on, let's leave the crab alone. I'm sure it has important business to get to. And so do we!" Steven stood, dusting the sand from his wet jeans, and extended a hand to Peridot. She took it, and he helped her to her feet.

"That's right, the moon base." Peridot glanced upward at the silhouette of the waxing moon that was still clearly visible against the blue sky above. "I've finished repairing my flask robonoids. It didn't take as long as expected, except for the ones Amethyst squashed." She made a face of annoyance. "We should be good to go."

"Wow, I thought those were broken forever! You're amazing, Peridot."

She blushed green under her visor. "Wow, thanks."

"Well, if everything is ready, let's get going!" Steven held out a hand. "Shall we?"

~~~~~~

Lion’s roar echoed through the warp stream. Steven clung tight to his mane, his own curly hair blown back from his face by the sheer speed of travel. Peridot held on tight to Steven’s waist, her face buried in his back.

“I hate this I hate this I hate this,” Steven heard her mutter under her breath as they rocketed toward their destination.

“Don’t worry, Peridot!” Steven called back to her. “If this goes right, Lion won’t have to superwarp us here anymore!”

Peridot’s answer was an incoherent yelp. Her arms tightened around Steven’s waist.

The trio burst out of warp space into the interior of the moon base, Lion’s momentum making them slide across the floor until the opposite wall stopped them short. Steven clambered down from Lion’s back and then helped Peridot to do the same. 

“Thanks, buddy,” he said, patting Lion on the head. “I owe you a Lion Licker when we get home.”

Lion yawned and rolled over on his back, closing his eyes.

“Okay,” Steven said, straightening up. “The mission!”

“The mission!” Peridot grinned. “The decommissioned warp pad should be somewhere outside. Do you mind?” She gestured at Steven’s cheeseburger backpack.

“Oh! Of course not.” Steven crouched down and waited as she rummaged through the pockets.

“Aha!” Peridot exclaimed triumphantly, pulling out several light green spheres. She rolled them across the floor—they came to a rest near the center of the room. Peridot pulled out her tablet and tapped a few squares on the screen. The robonoids trembled and then sprouted legs, marching dutifully toward the door to the exterior of the moon base.

Steven grinned. “Wow, Peridot! You got those to work with your tablet?”

“It wasn’t much of a challenge once I understood the operating system.” Peridot tucked the tablet under her arm. “They should be good to go. We just need to let them outside.”

“Got it.” Steven found something to hold onto and braced himself. Peridot opened the door to the moon’s surface, and the robonoids marched outside amid a sudden rush of wind.

Steven’s eyes shone as he looked at the Earth through the open doors. He’d seen it from a distance a number of times now, and he was never going to get used to it. It was especially beautiful from up here. He could understand why his mom had fallen in love with it.

The doors slid shut, and the room was dark and silent once more.

“Robonoids deployed.” Peridot tapped at her tablet. “And the video feed should be coming in...now!” she said triumphantly as footage of the lunar surface popped up on her screen. 

“I didn’t know those things had video!” Steven leaned over Peridot’s shoulder, eyes wide as he took in the moon’s surface. The robonoids marched steadily toward their destination. After a few minutes, a glimmer of blue rose up out of the dust. “The warp pad!” Steven shouted. 

Peridot grimaced. “It’s in bad shape. I suppose that’s what happens when no one does proper maintenance on one for several thousand years.” 

The surface of the warp pad was shattered, the crystal broken up into chunks that rose like icebergs out of the rocky ground. 

“What happened to it?” Steven asked. 

“Hmm. It was most likely struck by a meteorite. This site was abandoned in a hurry and the colony never reached completion. I’m not surprised to find it in such disrepair.”

“Can you fix it?”

The hint of a smile curled Peridot’s lips. “Yes, I think so.” She turned to look at Steven. “This is what I was created to do. And I’m very good at it.”

Steven couldn’t help but grin. It was amazing to see Peridot in her element. “How long is it gonna take?”

Peridot shrugged. “Given how damaged it is, an hour or so.”

“Well, what do you wanna do while we wait?” Steven dug in his backpack and pulled out a bag of Chaaaaps. “I brought snacks!”

“Hmm. No thanks.” Peridot made a face.

“That’s okay!” Steven tucked the bag back where it came from. “We could explore the moon base? I feel like we’re always in such a hurry when we come here.”

“I don’t know…”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Steven took Peridot’s hand. She smiled back reluctantly.

The two ascended the enormous stairs that spiraled up the walls of the tower. Steven glanced uneasily at the mosaics of the Diamonds that towered over them as they climbed. He forced himself not to focus on it. Today wasn’t the day for this. Things were going so smoothly! He couldn’t wait to get home and report their success to Garnet. She was going to be proud of them, he was sure of it. And if they nailed this mission, they’d probably get more! The prospect made his heart leap.

The pair found themselves in a smaller chamber that was empty except for a large white sphere that hovered in its center. "What is this room, Peridot?" Steven asked. "Last time we were here, Garnet said it didn't concern us."

"Oh," Peridot said, squinting at the device as she hopped to the next oversized stair step. "It's antiquated, but I'm pretty sure it's an observation device. The Diamonds use them to check progress on their colonies without actually having to go down there."

"So it's like some kind of Gem telescope?"

Peridot snorted. "Nothing so primitive. Here, I'll show you." She approached the sphere, eyeing it skeptically for a moment. Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed a fingertip to a spot on its lower half.

The room was suddenly endless ocean. The sun beat down overhead. Steven's feet hovered above rolling swells. "Aah!" he exclaimed. "Peridot, what—"

"Sorry, sorry!" She touched another spot on the sphere, and the ocean vanished, to be replaced by a snowy forest.

"Wow," Steven breathed. "Peridot, this is incredible!" He bent down to examine a pine cone—his fingers passed through it when he tried to pick it up. "Oh, right. This is a lot like Rose's room in the temple," he remarked.

Peridot spun the globe, and the illusion vanished. The room was shrouded in darkness once more. "This doesn't really help us with anything. We can just _go_ to all of these places. On the real Earth."

"That's true, but it's still really cool! Thanks for teaching me."

"Anytime." Peridot smiled weakly.

"Come on, let's keep exploring." Steven returned to the staircase, taking advantage of the weakened gravity to jump and skip the next three steps. Peridot clambered up behind him.

They'd both been in the next chamber before. The Diamonds' control room—complete with throne and the computer they'd broken into to get the coordinates for the Cluster months ago. Steven approached the glass wall, peering out at the surface of the moon and the Earthrise in the distance.

"It sure is beautiful here," he remarked. There was no response. "Peridot?" He turned.

The green Gem was standing at the base of the throne, looking up at it with a stricken expression on her face. "The last time we came here..." she swallowed. "I betrayed you."

"What are you talking about?"

"When we came to get the Cluster coordinates. I stole the communicator from this computer. I contacted Yellow Diamond. I almost got all of us shattered." Peridot's mouth twisted in dismay. "I...How can I call myself a Crystal Gem when I tried to turn you all in?"

"Peridot," Steven said gently. "People make mistakes. It's okay. You wouldn't do that to us now! Your life was upside down. You thought you were doing the right thing."

"That doesn't change the fact that it would have hurt you." Peridot sat on the ground, drawing her knees up close to her face.

Steven sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. "Peridot, the important thing is that you changed your mind. Dad always says that's the mark of a good person. Being willing to change your mind, and admit you were wrong. Besides," he gave her a squeeze. "You called Yellow Diamond a clod. To her face!"

Peridot sniffled, but smiled nonetheless. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"No turning back from that. You're one of us now."

Peridot leaned into him. "Thanks, Steven."

"Don't mention it."

They sat for a while, watching the rotation of the stars overhead. Finally, Peridot broke the silence. "The robonoids should have completed their task by now. We should go check on them."

"Sounds like a plan." Steven stood and pulled Peridot to her feet.

The two descended the over-sized stairs. When they reached the antechamber, Steven struggled to wake Lion. 

"C'mon, buddy," he cajoled. "You don't even have to warp us home. We're just going to take a nice walk over to the warp pad, and then you can nap as much as you want."

Lion shot him a dirty look but stood, stretching and yawning pointedly.

"I know, I know. Five minutes." Steven clambered onto his back and extended his hands, closing his eyes and concentrating. A rose quartz bubble bloomed from his gem, encircling them. “Ready when you are, Peridot!”

Steven and Lion bounded out onto the colorless gritty rock of the moon, accompanied by a rush of escaping air from the interior of the base. Peridot walked calmly across the surface beside them, her form’s accommodation of the moon’s physical properties making it impossible for her to take advantage of the reduced gravity.

As promised, the warp pad wasn’t far. Peridot’s robonoids stood dutifully beside it, somehow managing to look pleased despite not having faces. The crystal looked brand new—its surface was polished to a mirror-like shine and gleamed with refracted sunlight. 

“Hmm. Not bad,” Peridot said with a smirk. Despite her tone, pride practically radiated from her as she tapped on her tablet screen. “Yep, repairs have been completed and the warp should be fully operational now.”

“Looks like we nailed it!” Steven grinned and held his palm against the wall of his bubble for a high five. 

Peridot smiled and slapped back, dissolving into laughter when the force of the blow sent the bubble rolling backwards. She’d nearly recovered by the time he finally got his feet under him and made his way back to the warp pad, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

Peridot knelt and gathered up the robonoids in her arms. “We should report back. We’re already past our estimated return time. Pearl is going to get worried—and you know that won’t be fun for either of us.”

Steven nodded. “Yeah.” He and Lion shuffled onto the newly repaired warp pad, squishing together to make room for Peridot. Steven smiled, looking up at the Earth. “We make a great team, Peridot. Let’s do this all the time.”

She flushed green under her visor. “I’d like that.”

Steven’s gem felt warm as he pushed out the boundaries of his bubble to include her, and took her hand.

The warp pad chimed as it activated, and the trio vanished in a column of shimmering light.


End file.
